Sniper Rifle for Beginners

[smokey]

Features aside, the bushmaster is banned by name in the law.

"the bushmaster"


....this is the bushmaster semiauto rifle mentioned in the law. It's not an ar15 produced by bushmaster, it's a specific firearm that they made back in the day.

 

[balttigger]

I would recommend the Bergara B-14 HMR in 6.5CM or .308 with that kind of a budget. No need to upgrade from there, just shoot the p*ss out of it.

 

[Inigoes]

Here is a recent article, why you do not call a deer rifle, a sniper rifle.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/3...ying-sniper-rifle-and-dyeing-hair-report.html

The courts take a dim view of the term, if you are drug before them.

 

[Racer Doug14]

338 Lapua magnum or 300 Win Mag.















Hee hee.

 

[Racer Doug14]

Or try 224 valkery. Your budget will determine what you get. .223 REM is a soft and inexpensive round to shoot. The best budget combo might be the Ruger American Predator with scope. You have alot with that setup.

 

[pcfixer]

Or try 224 valkery. Your budget will determine what you get. .223 REM is a soft and inexpensive round to shoot. The best budget combo might be the Ruger American Predator with scope. You have alot with that setup.

yep. I have a Ruger American 30-06 with 4-12 X40 Nikon Buckmaster

shoots Hornady Whitetail 150 Gr Interlocks quite well.

 

[Semper Noctem]

Yeah... I'll just leave this here - :tinfoil

 

[Neutron]

Don't dye your hair or change your habits after you buy a rifle. Red flag law will have you behind bars.

 

[byf43]

My youngest son bought a Savage 10 FCP-SR, and I added bottom metal for AICS magazines, and swapped the aluminum EGW picatinny rail, for a Leupold MKIV +20 MOA.

He hasn't even fired it, and is looking in another direction.

It does need a scope (he was saving $$$ for a really nice piece of glass).


I can ask him this evening, what he's looking to get out of it, but, I can assure you, he's not going to "give it away".


The caliber is .308 Win.

 

[Pinecone]

A tactical/precision rifle is NOT the thing you want for hunting. Maybe hunting prairie dogs, where you drive out, set up and shoot all day from a location. And shoot lots of rounds in a day.

Hunting, at least most hunting, involves carrying the rifle around for most of the day, for one or two shots.

The former, tends to have a heavy contour barrel, with a large scope, with exposed adjustments for fast changes, and a moderately heavy chassis for stability.

The latter, tends to be thinner profile barrel for light weight, small scope with capped adjustments (to not accidentally change settings). Internal magazine to avoid dropping. Lighter stock.

But to start out, I also recommend a nice rimfire rifle to learn. Attend an Appleseed event.

Practice, meet people, shoot different rifles, and then decide what is right for you.

I don't know about Ed Shell, but Dan Newberry at Bang Steel will rent you a rifle for his long range course.

 

[Squaregrouper]

For entry level distance shooting, you can't come close to this deal...
https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsupers...email&utm_campaign=Product Notification Email

 

[dist1646]

Search high and low until you find a Van Orden's sniper rifle.

 

[ROBAR35]

And for the love of God stop calling it a damn sniper rifle. What your are asking for and about is a precision rifle. I can't recall one single time when I went through sniper school, our instructors ever referring to our weapons platforms as sniper rifles.

 

[ROBAR35]

If you want to see the holy grail of precision rifles, google Tactical Operations Echo 51 and prepare to drool.

 

[BradMacc82]

If you want to see the holy grail of precision rifles, google Tactical Operations Echo 51 and prepare to drool.

One of the members here has 2 of them I believe, IIRC 1 was 6.5x55 Swede and I don't recall the others caliber - but the 3 shot grouping was so close to being 1 hole it was awe-inspiring.

I've made it a point to not look it up, don't want to know what it'd set me back.

 

[Uncle Duke]

If you're going to hunt and shoot both, I'd think about putting 3 rifles in your plans.

The first would be a good .22LR. What you can learn about shooting basics and ballistics and wind doping and hunting from a good .22 can fill a series of books. Comparatively inexpensive, widely available and varying ammo, depending upon your purpose. Great for small game hunting to target shooting to plinking tin cans, and a rifle you can shoot all day long. CZ 452 or 455 and Savage Mark ll is what I'd be looking at, with good glass. Either would serve you very well today. For tomorrow, you'll have and use a good 22 with good glass all your life.

Next step "Intro to centerfire" would be .223 Remington IMO. Minimal recoil, very decently accurate. You can likewise shoot it all day long because it won't beat you up, plus a huge comparative benefit in centerfire ammunition cost, especially in a bolt action. Hunting capable from coyote on down. A good 250 yard varmint rifle, informal target rifle far longer still, good barrel life and fun to shoot a lot rifle, and an all around versatile rifle you're likely always going to want to have available to you anyway. Again with good glass, especially if you follow this rifle's likely usage of bench time and smaller targets while hunting, with likely higher magnification glass.

With the .22 and the .223, and a good teacher of fundamentals, you've learned how to shoot. If your hunting will include deer and larger North American game (short of those Kodiak lookin brown fellas), there's a ton of reasons why a good and highly versatile 30 caliber like a .30-06 Sprg. is so widely popular. If deer only, and nothing larger like say elk or moose, you can certainly go quite well with a somewhat lighter cartridge.

All of these mentions are very generalized, but are worth mention in combination I think because you're probably going to eventually want some variation of all 3 of these core basic rifles. And probably in relatively short order.

Good luck! And yeah, kindly lose the term "sniper rifle", huh? Not what we're looking to be about.

 

[kmb]

Don't worry about the "basic" rifles not being up to a task.

A cheap Ruger American can, and will, make long range hits.

I was going to ask this bc RECOIL has one in of their issues. Seemed like it was a decent mid-range rifle. I want to say they tested the x39 round but could be wrong and see the RA comes in a few diff calibers. 308 being interesting to me as I have that in AR but also intrigued in 270 or 6.5. I really want to get into long range shooting but don't know where to start and think 270 or 308 with the RA would be good. I've also heard Savage and Tikka are very good as Tikka is in RECOIL often. Thanks guys for the info.

http://www.recoilweb.com/ruger-american-ranch-7-62x39-131612.html

 

[4g64loser]

We all have our preferences but a lot of good advice has already been given. I am first and foremost a live varmint shooter and thus I tend toward wildcats and high performance 224 and 243 bores but the world of "long range" steel is a lot of fun (You would be very surprised how many hearts a tight twist 22-250AI can break when their fancy game rigs get taken down by a "varmint gun", though.)

FWIW, I got into competitive "practical" boltgun matches with a factory Tikka T3 Tactical and a gen one Vortex PST. Once I had 2500+ through the tube, I went ahead and put a Krieger match barrel in it and mated an XLR chassis. The scope has never needed changing. Today I have more than a few custom rigs but that Tikka (no action work, just a rebarrel) will still shoot with MOST of them.

In the chambering department, I would strongly urge what others have already suggested and get a .223, preferably a tighter twist, to learn on. Unless you handload, match ammo is going to be an expensive--continuing--investment. Even for those that roll their own, the cost of the smaller cases is attractive. For range time, the .223 will allow longer strings of fire without overheating, result in lower shooter fatigue given same weight of rig, and permit even a novice shooter to spot his or her own impacts. IF you must have just one rifle and do not handload, I would suggest a 308 in a short action or a 30-06 in a long action. These chamberings offer the greatest choice in factory ammo currently and will take any nondangerous game in north america.

 

[BossmanPJ]

One of the members here has 2 of them I believe, IIRC 1 was 6.5x55 Swede and I don't recall the others caliber - but the 3 shot grouping was so close to being 1 hole it was awe-inspiring.

I've made it a point to not look it up, don't want to know what it'd set me back.

That is antco I believe. That is a badass rifle. I remember that thread well. What that rifle will do is the standard for what precision rifles should shoot like. And with 6.5x55 Swede!

 

[Anotherpyr]

i’m looking to purchase a sniper rifle. Since i’ve never fired a sniper rifle before, what would you guys recommend for a newbie like me that’s worth the money?

Who are you planning on shooting?